McKayla Maroney says she was molested “hundreds of times” by former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, beginning when she was just 13.
The Olympic gymnast, 22, was among more than 200 women who came forward in 2017 to accuse Nassar, 54, of sexually abusing them over a number of years.
In her first interview since going public with her allegations last year, Maroney claims her first experience of abuse at the physician’s hands occurred during her first check-up at age 13.

Gymnast McKayla Maroney says Larry Nassar abused her 'hundreds' of times. (NBC)
The treatment then continued “every time” she saw Nassar, she tells US Today host Susannah Guthrie in the soon-to-air Dateline report.
“He said that nobody would understand this and the sacrifice that it takes to get to the Olympics so ‘You can’t tell people this’,” the athlete recalls.

Maroney won global admiration during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, as a member of the ‘Fierce Five’ US gymnastics team that won a gold medal.

Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar is serving up to 175 years in jail. (AP)
Behind the scenes, however, she claims Nassar was grooming her by sneaking her food during her training, when coaches were carefully monitoring the athletes’ intake.
“I would’ve starved at the Olympics if I didn’t have him bring me food,” she says.
Maroney, who retired from gymnastics in 2016, believes the doctor was taking advantage of the sport’s strict conditions to make her feel dependent on him.

“Your coaches are just always watching you and wanting to keep you skinny,” she adds.

McKayla Maroney (centre) won a gold medal in the team event at the 2012 Olympics. (AP/AAP)
“There’s just other things about the culture that are also messed up that he used against us.”
The full Dateline interview will air in the US on Sunday.
Maroney first shared her allegations against Nassar on Twitter last October, having been emboldened by the #MeToo movement sweeping through Hollywood.

“I had a dream to go to the Olympics, and the things that I had to endure to get there were unnecessary and disgusting,” she wrote.
“It seemed whenever and wherever [Nassar] could find the chance, I was ‘treated’.”
The former athlete alleged a particularly disturbing encounter with Nassar occurred when she was 15 and flew “all day and night” to Tokyo with her team.

“He’d given me a sleeping pill for the flight, and the next thing I know, I was all alone with him in his hotel room getting a ‘treatment’,” she wrote.

“I thought I was going to die that night.”
Nassar is currently serving three concurrent jail sentences of up to 175 years, having plead guilty to a number of sexual assault charges earlier this year.
An assistant attorney general at his court hearing in Michigan labelled him "the most prolific child molester in history."